North Carolina faces a huge three-game stretch that could define its season, and the shocking loss of Larry Drew II means Roy Williams will have to adjust his rotations against difficult competition.

The Tar Heels are home to Florida State on Saturday, and anyone who has watched the Seminoles knows how ferocious their defense can be. Then come games at Duke and at Clemson, both of which could be losses under the best of circumstances.

You can’t help but feel there was a strong sense of spite in Drew’s decision to leave in midseason. It really makes no sense – why drop out of a semester’s worth of classes and have to make it up? I mean, what parent would really allow their child to do that?And quit basketball, too?

But here are some tough numbers. Carolina was 19-17 in games Drew started last season (he didn’t start senior night against Miami). And the Heels were 12-5 with him starting at point this year, a string that concluded with that miserable performance at Tech.

Not only has Kendall Marshall played well at point guard, but Drew had played well off the bench.

The hunch here is Carolina will get better because of this. If Drew’s attitude off the court was so sour he wanted to leave, that wasn’t going to change with the tournaments approaching. And the rapid improvement of Reggie Bullock means Carolina has another option on the wing.

You have to give Roy Williams credit for a sharp coaching job so far. If he made one mistake, it was staying with Drew too long before turning to Marshall.  We’ll find out over the next three games how much Drew will be missed, but based on Friday’s events, it probably will not be much.